Saskatoon city council set to vote on downtown grocery store proposal

Saskatoon city council will vote on how to proceed with a proposed downtown grocery store at its regular business meeting Tuesday.

Council is being presented with a variety of options to help accommodate the proposed Pitchfork Market + Kitchen full-service grocery store from Vancouver-based developer Arbutus, which would occupy a space at Midtown Mall previously built for Mountain Equipment Co-op.

“This is a unique situation, and the City needs to resolve how to respond to Arbutus’ request. All options presented are viable,” the recommendation from city administration reads.

Council will vote on six different options centred on a tax abatement request and reconstructing the Auditorium Drive and Idylwyld Drive intersection access to the mall.

The first two options recommend a status quo approach for the tax abatement since one is already in place for Midtown Plaza.

“As the property tax abatement has already been approved for the property owner, no further abatement can be provided to the tenant under current policies,” the report from administration says.

However, to help support the city’s long-standing goal to bring a grocery store to the downtown core, administration is willing to “explore a one-time grant for this project as an alternative” if directed to do so.

Options to introduce a series of upgrades to the Auditorium Avenue and Idylwyld Drive intersection range from deferring traffic signal installation until the Imagine Idywyld project is completed, installing traffic lights this year from city funding, installing traffic lights using a cost-sharing approach between the city and adjacent businesses and forgoing repairs until 2024.

Administration is recommending working with Arbutus to identify a “build-out” per cent threshold to provide a level of certainty a downtown grocery store would be opening.

Once that threshold is met, the city will make the necessary changes at the intersection at a cost of $220,000.

“The administration’s recommendation is largely based on the premise that a downtown grocery store is consistent with the city’s vision of downtown and will support many of the city’s strategic priorities,” the report read.

“Although a traffic signal is an atypical way to incentivize such a venture, the proponent has made it clear that they believe the viability of the grocery store is contingent on the traffic signal. If a grant were instead to be considered, the estimated $220,000 investment by the City would be equivalent to a grant structure worth $44,000 per year for five years.”

Tuesday’s council meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.